Crazy Rich Asians, a romantic comedy released on August 15, 2018 by Warner Brothers, has been the talk of the town ever since it came out. Many theaters are still showing it months later and several Asian audience members have come out with stories of how much this film means to them after years of discrimination and invisibility on screen. Why does visibility have such an impact on people who are not white, straight, and able? In this article, the cast and crew of Crazy Rich Asians is asked about their crazy experiences since the smash hit began production.

“What Being in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Means to the Movie’s Stars”

To assemble the cast of “Crazy Rich Asians,” the filmmakers sent out feelers across five continents, watched scores of Skype auditions and held chemistry reads — something between an audition and a weird lunch date — to determine if actors were compatible. They looked at standup comedians and TV stars, models and musicians, and even announced an open call on social media. In the end, the film included Asian screen royalty (Michelle Yeoh), breakout stars (Awkwafina), newcomers (Henry Golding) and YouTube discoveries (Cheryl Koh). Here, six actors — and one singer — recall the casting process.

Constance Wu

“People say it’s so hard to find great Asian-American male actors, but it’s not.”Rozette Rago for The New York Times

How badly did the director, Jon M. Chu, want Constance Wu to play Rachel, the romantic lead? Bad enough to push production of the film back four months, so that she could complete filming of the fourth season of her ABC series “Fresh Off the Boat.” Although Ms. Wu had largely secured the role, she was called in to do chemistry reads and screen tests with all the prospective Nicks. To get into their psyches, the actress asked each one personal questions. Have you ever had your heart broken? When was the last time you felt really ashamed? “Actors love to talk about their feelings,” she said. Mr. Golding walked away with the role, but it wasn’t because the pool was shallow. “People say it’s so hard to find great Asian-American male actors, but it’s not,” she said. “I think it’s insulting to the men I tested with, the men I went to drama school with, the men I did Off Off Broadway with. Maybe they don’t have the biggest agents, because agents aren’t going to take them because there aren’t roles for them. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.”

The screen test was scheduled during his honeymoon. He thought, “‘My wife is going to kill me.’ But she totally understood.”

Mr. Golding first suspected something was up when he noticed Mr. Chu following him on Instagram. It turned out that Mr. Chu had heard about this good-looking travel host based in Malaysia, and had been digging up as much as he could find on him. After watching his YouTube videos and Skyping with him, Mr. Chu beckoned Mr. Golding, who had never acted before, to Los Angeles for a chemistry read with Ms. Wu. “I was just expecting Jon and Constance and maybe a cameraman,” he said. “I get in the room and there’s 15 people: executive producers, the casting people, Warner Bros. heads.” The audition went well, and two weeks later, Mr. Golding was called back to Los Angeles to shoot a screen test. The only hiccup: he was in South Africa in the middle of his honeymoon. He thought, “‘My wife is going to kill me.’ But she totally understood. She knew that this was a chance in a million.”

Michelle Yeoh

“When you’ve been in the business long enough, sometimes you have the privilege of not having to audition.”

The filmmakers said Michelle Yeoh was always going to be their Eleanor, Nick’s mom and Rachel’s nemesis. “I guess when you’ve been in the business long enough, sometimes you have the privilege of not having to audition,” Ms. Yeoh laughed. Even so, she observed the casting process from afar, including Mr. Chu’s open call video. “I think it was really important that he did that, and for the producers to think the cast should come from all over the world,” she said. She also admired the filmmakers for not whitewashing the role of Rachel, which she said would have been sacrilegious. “You don’t know what your audience wants until it’s out there,” she added. “When we did ‘Crouching Tiger,’ everyone said you have to dub this movie in English, because Americans won’t read subtitles. But we proved them wrong.”

Awkwafina

“I never really felt like I was a part of any kind of Asian-American generation coming up until I saw this cast.”Rozette Rago for The New York Times

The New York-based actress (“Ocean’s 8”) and rapper (“My Vag”) was asked to read for the role of Peik Lin, Rachel’s best friend. “I’m definitely not an Astrid,” she admitted, referring to the book’s beauty and fashion plate. At the time, Awkwafina (real name: Nora Lum) was something of a newcomer to acting (her only other film credit was a bit part in “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”), and Mr. Chu was still fleshing out her character, which changed considerably from book to film. “I’d never really auditioned with an Asian director,” she said. “So that was very intense, too. It just feels different. You feel closer, in a sense.” As for the audition itself, “I didn’t think it went horribly, which is always a great feeling to have.” She added, “I never really felt like I was a part of any kind of Asian-American generation coming up until I saw this cast. You have icons like Ken Jeong, you have Ronny Chieng from ‘The Daily Show.’ That’s when you feel like you really are part of this amazing community within the industry.”

Cheryl Koh

She nearly took down her YouTube audition for the movie: “I was quite embarrassed of it.”Rozette Rago for The New York Times

Her online audition was something of a whim. A 21-year-old University of Southern California student at the time, Ms. Koh had never acted before, but her covers of pop songs on YouTube had garnered hundreds of thousands of hits. Recorded in her Los Angeles bedroom, her video audition features a minute and a half of Ms. Koh, who was born and raised in Malaysia, reading lines with a school pal, and about 15 seconds of her singing Jessie J’s “Mamma Knows Best” a cappella. “I just threw it in there,” she said. Ms. Koh uploaded the video in February 2017, and waited. And waited. A year later, after nearly taking the video down — “I was quite embarrassed of it” — she got a call from Warner Bros. You can hear her Mandarin and English version of the Beatles song “Money” as the opening credits roll. During the closing credits, Awkwafina adds her rap verses to the mix.

Gemma Chan

This movie “made me realize how often I’ve been the only person of color, and certainly the only Asian actor, on a film or TV set.”Rozette Rago for The New York Times

Ms. Chan was called to Los Angeles from Britain to audition for the role of Astrid, Nick’s glamorous cousin. “There have been lots of times, maybe less now, where I’d be called in, and the character’s race was very much part of the story line,” she said. “Or I’d be told, you have a lovely English accent, but can you sound a bit more Asian? Or somebody else’s idea of Asian. And I just really knew that that wasn’t going to be the case on this film.” The experience went far beyond the casting process. “It made me realize how often I’ve been the only person of color, and certainly the only Asian actor, on a film or TV set. It was wonderful to look around and see people from all over the world.”

Jimmy O. Yang

Early on, Mr. Yang (“Silicon Valley”) thought he might go for the role of Nick, until his manager, ever so gently, set him straight. “He goes, ‘Jimmy, I don’t know how to tell you this, but they’re looking for a good-looking guy for the leading role,” he said. Later, undeterred, Mr. Yang read for the role of Colin, Nick’s equally good-looking friend. About a month after the audition, Mr. Yang’s manager sheepishly told him that the role of Colin had gone to someone else, but would he be interested in playing Bernard, the spoiled, good-for-nothing billionaire in Versace everything? “I was like, dude, yeah!” he said. “Bernard is the most obnoxious, filthy rich, throwing his money around guy, just the worst type of person. Which is just so fun to play.”

I wasn't the only one to pick up on the powerful use of the deer imagery, A.M. NOVAK did as well and I am featuring his article below, but not many did. Of course, there were so many other powerful uses of symbols and the genre that America thankfully did pick up on, as Frank Bruni dissects in The Horror of Smug Liberal very accurately and brutally honestly.

In his article Frank Bruni also pointed me to an interesting aspect of the horror genre that I had not thought about before since I have to admit I am not a big horror fan. Frank Bruni draws a link between certain horror films and social issues, such as Rosemary’s Baby and abortion and The Stepford Wives and women’s liberation, and now between Get Out and Black Lives Matter. Again I find this very accurate and have a new found appreciation for the horror genre, not only because of Get Out.

It is needless to say that Get Out is everything a movie should be and more, horror or not. With this film Jordan Peele has established himself as one of the best and most relevant screenwriter and directors we have at the moment. We need more filmmakers like him.

Not Your Trophy: Deer Imagery in Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’

Jordan Peele’s psychological horror Get Out has consistently drawn large box office numbers since its February 2017 release. As with Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby or any Stanley Kubrick feature, it’s the carefully layered subtext that bears repeat viewings. As black photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya, Black Mirror) and his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams, Girls) venture to upstate New York to meet her parents, race is revealed to be more of an issue than Rose originally let on. Get Out explores many notions: the duplicitous nature of liberal racism, the cumulative damage of microaggressions and appropriation, assimilation versus acculturation. But it’s the deer imagery, and the insinuations about race and resistance, that continue to elude audiences.

Chris’ journey begins with a bad omen. During his drive with Rose to the Armitage residence, the relative normalcy of their trip is shattered when they collide with a deer. Its body catapults into the woods just off the road, and the couple pulls over to recover. Chris feels compelled to exit the car and steps into the woods to see if the deer is still alive, standing over the dying animal as it gasps its last breath. Close ups are intercut with shots of Chris’ transfixed face, hinting at something simmering under his calm exterior. Later, during his first trip to the “Sunken Place,” Chris reveals his greatest childhood shame to Rose’s hypnotherapist mother, Missy (Catherine Keener: he didn’t act quickly enough to save his own mother in the hours after her hit-and-run accident, and was thus responsible for her death. At this point, it’s clear that Chris goes back to see the dying deer because it served as a reminder of his mother’s death. From the film’s beginning, writer/director Peele clues the audience in as to the deer’s significance as a symbol.

The biggest indicator that the deer means something more is most apparent when Chris first meets Rose’s father, Dean (Bradley Whitford), in person. His reaction to the deer story is notably odd. He praises Rose for hitting the deer and goes on to rant about the entire species and how they ruin the local neighborhoods. To eradicate them is a service to the community, according to Dean. This scene not only sets an odd tone for the rest of Chris’ interactions with the family, but it also primes the audience for what’s to come. We’ve all heard or read this rant before in the comments section of an article about POC. Instead of deer, however, the comments are often aimed at non-white people and how they ruin neighborhoods, how unassimilated they are and how they need to be locked up (or worse) for everyone’s safety. Later in the film, the reveal that the Armitage family appropriates black bodies for the convenience and use of wealthy white society is justified as being for the greater good or, in other words, as a service to the community. Dean’s out-of-place tangent, then, is not just referring to the deer, but what — or whom — it represents to him.

At first, it seems peculiar that Dean speaks so lowly of deer, considering he has the imposing head of one mounted on the wall of the rec room where Chris is later held against his will. It’s not just a deer head mounted to the wall, either; the antlers indicate that the deer is likely male, also known as a buck. That in itself isn’t enough to make one pause, since it was clear early on that Dean was a hunter of sorts, and procured many exotic souvenirs during his travels abroad. During the grand tour of the house, he casually showed off his trophies from far-off African locales. Statues. Instruments. Tapestries. Elements he had cherry-picked from black culture to display in his own home; a simple-but-effective display of black appropriation. Like the black people Rose hunted and seduced, Dean’s favorite bits of blackness were given new life as decorative trophies. The biggest trophy of all, though, is displayed in the recreation room.

A buck’s taxidermied head mounted in a rec room is nothing special on its own, but in Get Out, the connected historical context makes it a far more sinister image. A buck is also a known post-Reconstruction racial slur, used to describe black men who refused to acquiesce to white authority figures and were considered a menace to white America. The “black buck” became a stereotype in America throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries that reduced African-American men to the villainous role of savage brutes, who would cause devastation to white property (including the rape of white women), and thus necessitated brutal measures in order to maintain order, for the good of the community. In Get Out, it is in this context that the buck’s mounted head is transformed into a symbol of white dominance over the black male. That the trophy is displayed above the television (used to mentally “tame” Chris into submission via hypnosis) is no mistake.

Further, it’s no mistake that Chris escapes the recreation room the way he does. He resists the family’s hypnosis cues by picking and stuffing cotton (from the armrests on his chair) into his ears, the racial irony of which is particularly satisfying, and was confirmed as intentional by Peele in a New York Times podcast. As Rose’s brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) comes to collect Chris, he bludgeons the young man with a bocce ball; another sweet spoonful of irony in which he fulfills the brute athletic “purpose” that Jeremy insisted upon earlier. Chris then impales a shocked Dean with the antlers of the very buck that loomed over him moments before. The antlers are both a literal and a metaphorical implement of resistance, and their indication is clear: Chris is not a wild beast to be tamed, and he will not be another ethnic trophy for the Armitage estate. With the prior knowledge of Dean’s awkward raving about the deer population needing to be kept under control, it becomes especially poetic that a physical token of the dehumanization of black people becomes a tool for tearing him down and, by extension, the nuanced oppression that he represents.

Like the color red in The Sixth Sense, the imagery in Get Out is both visually striking and packed with power. Jordan Peele saturates that imagery with subtextual power, using the deer as a symbol for Chris’ past trauma, the animalization and appropriation of people of color, forced deference to the white man and, finally, as an instrument of defiance. With so much gold mined from one visual element, it’s safe to assume that Get Out will continue to entertain and provoke with multiple viewings, making it a valuable addition to any film lover’s collection.

A.M. Novak (@BookishPlinko) is a horror enthusiast and contributor to Daily Grindhouse, 100 Films/100 Scenes, Horror Writers and 52 Weeks of Horror. When she’s not staunchly defending Halloween 6, she’s scribbling nightmares for the masses in the form of short stories.